JOHOR BARU, June 8 — Chief Justice Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif and Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinuddin should vacate their positions to allow the country to pursue its intended legal reforms, said Lim Kit Siang.
The DAP parliamentary leader said both judges should voluntarily leave to spare the country the constitutional crisis over their appointments.
“Md Raus and Zulkefli Ahmad should gracefully resign to bring the constitutional crisis over the two top judicial posts to an end,” said the Iskandar Puteri MP.
Md Raus and Zulkefli were appointed as CJ and Court of Appeal president on April 1 last year. They were scheduled to retire on Aug 3 and September 27 of that year respectively upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 66 and six-months.
Their contract extensions are the subject of a judicial review application by the Malaysian Bar, which said the move was in violation of the Federal Constitution.
“What is incontrovertible however is that re-appointment of Md Raus and Zulkefli to the two top judicial posts in the land had met with criticism and opposition – with the weight of juristic, legal and informed public opinion arrayed against them at the time of the re-appointments,” explained Lim.
He added that critics of the extensions include former CJ Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamad, former Federal Court judge Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram, former Attorney-General Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman, former de facto law minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim and the Malaysian Bar.
